When we think of edible tubers that grow easily in our gardens, potatoes often spring to mind. But there are so many other hardy, delicious, nutritious plants with edible tuberous roots that are worth trying. Most don’t need daily attention so they’re perfect for Zone 2 in a permaculture patch.
Curry Leaf
Curry Leaf is one of my favourite small trees with its abundant fern-like leaves, spicy aroma and ability to survive both frosts and drought conditions. When picked fresh for the kitchen, the leaves burst with fragrance when crushed.
Asparagus
Asparagus is a hardy, long-lived, winter-dormant, herbaceous perennial with ferny growth to 1.5 m high. Its young shoots or spears are delicious and widely used as a spring vegetable crop.
Orris Root
Orris Root is an invaluable ingredient in potpourris for its ability to enhance the aroma of other plant materials, oils and spices and act as a preservative, fixative and stabiliser.
Saffron Crocus
Saffron is the world's most expensive and luxurious spice, but fortunately this beautiful bulb is easy and inexpensive to grow at home to harvest the orange-red stigmas known as saffron.
Rangpur Lime
Rangpur Limes are prized for their tangy, smoky flavour, and both the zest and juice are used for sweet and savoury dishes. The peel exudes a fresh lime fragrance and the flesh is tart and juicy and an ideal substitute for limes or lemons.
Rosella
Rosella is an attractive annual shrub to 1.5m high with large, deeply lobed leaves, distinctive red stems and attractive light yellow-pink hibiscus-like flowers with a dark red centre.
Juniper Berry
Juniper Berries are classed as a spice and have a long history of traditional use including giving gin its distinctive flavour. This hardy, upright, evergreen, coniferous shrub thrives in most conditions.
Turmeric
Turmeric is an attractive perennial herb that grows from knotty, branched, yellow-orange, underground rhizomes. Popular in many Asian dishes, it's a spice that provides a mild, spicy, earthy aroma, bitter, mustard-like flavour, and rich golden-yellow colour.
Galangal
Galangal is an attractive perennial herb that grows from a rhizome that’s quite similar to ginger. Popular in many Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian dishes, galangal is a spice that provides a distinctive sharp, pungent, aromatic taste and is often used with lemon grass, shallots, garlic and chillies to make curries...